This afternoon, OHSU announced a $125 million gift from Nike co-founder and Chairman Phil Knight and his wife Penny that will establish a new cardiovascular institute at OHSU. This is the Knights’ second landmark gift to OHSU–in 2008 they gave $100 million to fund the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute–and the largest in OHSU history.

Under the leadership of Albert Starr, M.D., co-inventor of the world’s first successful heart valve, and Sanjiv Kaul, M.D., an innovator in the field of cardiovascular imaging, the institute will bring together clinicians and researchers with the goal of becoming a world leader in translational cardiovascular research. The institute’s mission will encompass prevention, diagnostic, and treatment strategies for cardiovascular disease, with an emphasis on translating discoveries from the lab to the clinic as quickly as possible. Within this collaborative, multidisciplinary institute, faculty members will come from diverse groups including the Oregon National Primate Research Center, the OHSU Center for Regenerative Medicine, the OHSU Heart Research Center, and the Bob and Charlee Moore Institute for Nutrition & Wellness.